I am amazed by what a huge part of my life babywearing has been over the past two years. I had a difficult pregnancy, which ended with a month of bed rest followed by delivering six weeks early via an unplanned c-section due to severe pre-eclampsia. My amazing little premie, Zoey, was in the NICU for just under two weeks. This was actually a much shorter stay than the doctors had predicted when she was born. We were very blessed with how well she did, how quickly she was able to come off oxygen and how quickly she was able to start eating on her own. Still the trials of having a baby born and whisked straight away to the NICU can be a very emotional and difficult thing to deal with. In the moment, I didn’t realize quite how much I was struggling with it all. I was still having my own health issues as well, while Zoey was being treated in the NICU. For most moms, delivering stops the pre-eclampsia symptoms. I was one of the minority who continued to have issues for several days after delivery.
Looking back on it, I can easily see that I was becoming depressed from a combination of my health issues, going home without Zoey, dealing with the daily stress of the NICU and postpartum hormones. At the time, I continued to insist I was fine. I eventually listened to my husband’s concerns about my frequent crying spells and I talked with my doctor. She was able to put me on a medicine that helped me. When Zoey was about two months old, I discovered babywearing through a small facebook group of new mom’s. The babies looked so happy in the wraps and it looked so convenient for the moms. I ordered my first wrap off of Amazon within a few days of learning about babywearing.
My first wrap was a hot pink Boba, which is a stretchy wrap (similar to a Moby). I loved my Boba and how close it helped me to feel to Zoey. I hadn’t admitted it to myself, but I had been struggling to bond with her. I’m not saying that wrapping her up and snuggling her suddenly made everything perfect, but it was certainly a step in the right direction for us.
I am so grateful for all of the wonderful babywearing moms I have met both in person and through facebook groups. My first few attempts at wrapping were not the best, but with constructive criticism I improved my technique and we enjoyed hours of safe snuggles in our Boba. We have since moved on to woven wraps and soft-structured carriers (SSCs), but the Boba will always have a special place in my heart for leading me to an activity that has brought so much joy to my life.
My First Woven Wrap
After a few days of wrapping with my stretchy wrap, I was able to attend a local babywearing group meeting and learned about woven wraps. As babies get bigger, woven wraps are a great option. Wovens are more supportive than the stretchy wraps and can be used safely for back carries, unlike the stretchy wraps. So shortly after the babywearing meeting, I found myself on the hunt for my first woven wrap. There are so many choices out there!
The first question I had was what size wrap should I buy for my first woven wrap. Woven wraps come in a variety of sizes, typically ranging from size 2 – size 7. A size 2 is 2.7 meters, size 3 is 3.1 meters, size 4 is 3.6 meters, size 5 is 4.2 meters, size 6 is 4.6 meters and a size 7 is 5.2 meters. I asked on my local babywearing group’s facebook page and in a very helpful, large facebook group called Babywearing 102. The general consensus was that for my body build I should start with either a size 5 or 6, which would be my base size. The majority recommended a 6, so that’s what I decided to search for.
So now I knew what size I was going to buy, the next big question was what brand. There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I was given several pieces of advice on this, but one that has really stuck with me and that I now share with beginners is find a wrap you love. If it is beautiful to you and you absolutely love it, you will learn to use it. I considered several brands such as Natibaby, Girasol, Kokadi, and Oscha. I ended up going with a Kokadi Erna Im Wunderland. It was beautiful turquoise and pink colors and had a whimsical pattern that I loved.
After deciding what I wanted to buy, the next step was to figure out how exactly to buy it. There are several facebook groups called Babywearing Swaps, where you can buy, sell or trade wraps. I perused some of these, but at the time this seemed really overwhelming (more on buy, sell and trading in the swaps in later posts). So while lots of people recommended buying a used wrap for your first woven wrap, since it would already be broken in, I decided this wasn’t the right choice to for me. Luckily, Erna was still in production by Kokadi and I could purchase it new from a vendor. It took a bit of searching to find a vendor with a size 6 in stock, but I finally did. Then I ordered it and anxiously awaited the arrival of my beautiful new woven wrap.
My first wrap job was a little sloppy. See first picture below, but I posted this picture to the babywearing facebook groups and was given helpful critiques to help me improve my wrap job. The second picture was taken just hours after the first. I improved dramatically between these two attempts, if I do say so myself! I am so grateful for the kind women in the babywearing community who have answered the “How does this wrap job look?” “Did I do this right?” “What should I buy for my first wrap?” and “What size should I get for my first wrap?” questions of us beginners dozens of times. I hope this article may help to answer those questions for some future newbies to babywearing!
The carry in these pictures is called Front Wrap Cross Carry (abbreviated FWCC). This is one of the easiest carries to learn and a great place for a beginner to start. In fact, it was my go to carry for the first few months of my babywearing journey. It is still one of my two year old's favorite carries, though I now prefer back carries.
My rails are not properly tightened here in my first attempt and Zoey was too low. She should be high enough that I can easily kiss the top of her head while she is wrapped.
In the next picture, my rails are much tighter and she is much more secure. She could have still been a little higher, but overall this was a much better more comfortable carry.
The Sentimental Side of A Babywearing Wrap Collector
I love babywearing and woven wraps. Handwoven wraps take things to a whole new level of awesomeness! And custom handwoven wraps up the ante even more.
The process of working with Wendi was awesome. She mocked up the wrap from my inspiration photo. She did a few different versions and I selected my favorite. This was difficult because they were all gorgeous! She helped explain the differences that the different weft colors would make in the appearance of the wrap. Wendi made five pieces of my custom wrap. I purchased three pieces of it. I originally selected a 4.8 meter piece with a black cottolin weft in plain weave. The warp is Egyptian cotton and amazingly soft. Wendi selected the other weft colors and she did a great job. I also had a 4.3 meter piece in twill weave with navy American mercerized cotton weft and a 3.4 meter piece in twill weave with pink Egyptian cotton weft. Wendi also made a piece with periwinkle weft for her personal stash and a ring sling piece with a gray weft. To say that I love these wraps would be a bit of an understatement.
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| The inspiration picture. |
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| The mock-up |
Okay, so now that I have went on and on about how gorgeous these wraps are, you’d probably like to hear something about the wrapping qualities right? Well, okay, I can do that because these wraps do not disappoint on that front either. Zatgebos do not have tapered ends. This was my first experience with a wrap with blunt ends. I think this does make it wrap a touch shorter, but this is something that I have quickly gotten used to. The 100% Egyptian cotton shorty with the pink weft is the softest wrap that I have ever felt, yet it is still a very solid wrap. I have mainly used it for a ruck tied in front and various hip carries. The ruck stays in place even with just a single knot in the front. It is very cushy on my shoulders and very supportive. The long wrap with the black cottolin weft is just amazing. This wrap makes the most comfortable double hammock of any of my current wraps. It is very cushy on my shoulders and has just the right amount of grip for me. I find it easy to wrap with, my passes will glide into place, but it has enough grip that it holds even if I tie off with a single knot. I wore my 19 pound, 9 month old for over an hour on a hike with our two dogs and she felt weightless. I'm definitely smitten with this wrap! I just recently parted with the gorgeous navy twill weft in a trade to another awesome handwoven wrap. Before I let it leave, my husband did a photo shoot of me and Zoey in it. I mainly wore her in a FWCC for the shoot. This wrap is truly amazing. This is the thickest of the pieces that I owned and is extremely cushy. I wore my daughter for over an hour in a FWCC and we were both happy in it. By the end of the photo shoot, she had settled in for a nap. This rarely ever happens for us in front carries anymore.
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| Double hammock in black weft, plain weave |
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| FWCC in navy weft, twill |
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| Ruck tied in front in pink weft, twill |
Winding down of my Babywearing Days
I am slowly accepting that my babywearing days are coming to an end. After all, I don't have a baby anymore, I have a very independent toddler. She still occasionally wants wrap snuggles and I greatly enjoy each and every one of those opportunities. I have started to sell off some of my wraps on the babywearing swaps, but it is so hard because I am sentimental and have emotional attachments to several of them. Plus, I am now down to my favorites. A person can have 12 favorites of something, right? Other babywearing mommas will understand! I hope Zoey will continue to occasionally go up for another year or two, so I can justify keeping just my favorite wraps!
Happy Babywearing, Sparkly Mommies!
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